12/16
Alaska inks free agent ace to mega deal:
The Avalanche are serious about being contenders, spending 118.9M today to prove it. George Bean agreed to the 7 year deal today and will head up a young, and strong, Avalanche rotation hit hard by the departure of ace Barry Zito. Bean is a 29 year old, very durable, top of the rotation arm. He’s 82-50 career and coming off his best season yet. He went 15-5 in 23 starts after missing time on the DL for the 1st time in his career. His 2.78 ERA missed qualifying (he would have finished 2nd to Vince Bray’s 2.72) by 1/3rd of an inning.
There are still a slew of big ticket free agents out there. None bigger than Chartier, but Ross Tunstall, Lee Allen and a few more are still shopping themselves. Chartier is pretty firm on his 20+ million ask, and if I had it to do over again I may have caved at 15-17 for 5-6, but I am glad I didn't. I am betting he plays in around 50% of his games the next 5 years. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see him suiting up for 135+ a year. My next hope is that he signs with someone in the Coastal...
One of the interesting bats still out there is 26 year old Troy Glaus. Next to Chartier (24) he's the youngest bat out there.